Go Chim!

This past weekend, we went to a big Texas Ranch north of Dallas for a huge summer picnic and barbeque with all of Chim's co-workers. There were horseback rides, volleyball tournaments and a canoe race. Chim had been stolked about the volleyball tournament; however, he forgot to wear shoes--only sandals. So at the end of the tournament, Chim had a mega blister on the bottom of his foot. But, the best part was when Chim decided at the last minute to sign-up for the canoe race. Chim and I walked up to the table and he asked if it wasn't too late to join the men's canoe race. A fat, sweaty guy with a bull-horn, a lisp, and a cowboy hat on (a.k.a. the "master of ceremonies") said it wasn't too late. He then asked Chim if he had a partner. Chim said no. So, the "master of ceremonies" exuberantly called to a guy behind him named Bill who had been walking under an oak tree. Bill, a young 30-year old with sunglasses and an aussie hat, came flying over. "Do you feel like racing?" the "master of ceremonies" said. To which Bill slowly but happily replied with a grin: "Sure." So Chim, Bill, and I headed over to the canoe race area on the edge of a large pond with about 5 leafless trees sticking out of it. I sat in the spectator tent with the rest of the wives in camping chairs and watched as each set of men would go out, one at a time, and be timed by the "master of ceremonies"--who was standing on the end of the dock with a stopwatch. The pairs were to canoe out onto the bond, circle around a tree with red tape on it and return to the dock as fast and they could. The two pairs with the lowest time would then race at the end. Well, we watched as pairs went out, meandering around the pond in their canoes, struggling to make it around this tree and return to the dock. Some pairs were flipping over, two very young boys floated aimlessly around the pond in their life vests until a man just ran into the pond to get them when they got close to the edge, some were bumping into other pairs that were still out there. Needless to say, when Chim and Bill got in their canoe and took off, they shot straight at that tree, made a hairpin turn around it, and shot right back to the dock in 1 minute, 12 seconds! So, they were first for this leg of the competition. After the girls' race, which was hillarious, but I won't get into that, Chim and Bill raced the pair of men with the second best time. Bill had planned to tie an anchor that he found to the other pair's canoe, but when push came to shove, it didn't happen. Anyway, Chim and Bill climbed into a blue canoe on one side of the dock and the other pair into a green one on the other side, and they were off. Chim and Bill flew ahead, but the other pair headed straight for Chim and Bill, grazing the front of their canoe, turning both canoes far right of the destination tree and causing Chim and Bill to rock back and forth towards tipping over. I, from my camping chair in the wives' tent, exclaimed "Oh! They're playing dirty!" and yelled "Come on, Blue!" So, Chim and Blue were able to turn their canoe for the tree, and Chim, in the back of the canoe, turned back towards the other canoe and used their canoe to shove Bill and himself off towards the tree. I then started laughing and so did some of the others around me. Needless to say Chim and Bill flew around the tree and made were headed toward the dock with the other pair about 8 feet behind them. I started yelling "Go Blue!" "Go Blue!" and stuggled to get out of my camping chair with my big pregnant belly, exclaiming "Oh! This is so exciting!" Well, Chim and Bill won the race! The women in the tent started packing up their camping chairs to leave when one of the men from the other canoe came over to the woman next to me to help her pickup and leave! It turned out that I had been sitting next to the wife of one of the men in the losing canoe! I felt really bad for making all of those exclamations the whole time while she had remained silent for that race! We had been talking during other races, but she was quiet for that one and I had had no idea why or thought about it until now! Oh well, anyway, Chim's trophy should be arriving any day now.